In many surgical procedures, particularly minimally invasive surgical procedures such as endoscopic suturing of internal body tissue, suturing must be accomplished using a suture that can fit through a surgical instrument or implant having a very small opening. If the opening has a circular cross-section, for example, threading a suture having the same diameter as the opening can be nearly impossible. Moreover, many surgical procedures require looping the suture and pulling a doubled suture through the opening. As a result, most sutures have a smaller denier so as to easily fit through the intended opening and/or so as to be able to be folded over for proper threading by drawing a loop of suture through the opening.
However, in many cases, a suture having the largest diameter possible for the intended opening is advantageous both because a large diameter suture will provide increased stability of the suture in tissue, a larger suture is stronger, and because space in the surgical device will not be wasted with a partially unfilled opening. Moreover, in certain cases, in order to properly pinch or otherwise restrain the suture to avoid movement of the suture after completion of the surgical process, the suture ideally fills a majority of the opening of the surgical instrument or implant.
Accordingly, there is a need for a suture having a larger denier at the central portion and a smaller denier near at least one end.